Where To Get TM38 Fire Blast in Pokémon Crystal

TM38 Fire Blast
#	Location	Repeatable?
1	Game Corner in Goldenrod City. Exchanged for 5500 coins at the right-side counter.	Yes

You can only get TM38 Fire blast as a prize from the Goldenrod Game Corner in Pokémon Crystal. It costs 5500 coins, and you’ll get this TM from the left clerk at the prize counter.

There are two ways to obtain coins here:

Buy them for 1000 PokéDollars per 50 coins (this equals 110,000 PokéDollars to buy enough for the Fire Blast TM)
Earn coins by playing Card Flip and hitting the Slot Machines at the Game Corner.

This can be done right after picking up the Coin Case from the Goldenrod Underground.

Prerequisites

Once you’ve reached Goldenrod City for the first time, there’s only one thing left to do before you can get TM38 Fire Blast.

You must pick up the Coin Case from the Goldenrod Underground.

This will allow you to store the coins you need to exchange for TM38.

Getting TM38 Fire Blast (Step-by-Step)

Find the Goldenrod Game Corner north of Goldenrod City’s Pokémon Center.

Route to the Game Corner.

Then you’ll want to acquire 5500 coins by gambling or purchasing coins at the left counter.

Facing the Game Corner clerk who sells coins.

The coins are relatively expensive at 50 coins per 1000 PokéDollars. Buying all 5500 coins would cost you a whopping 110,000 PokéDollars.

Tip: One of the simplest and fastest ways to make money in the late game is by beating the Elite IV. You’ll get roughly 22,000 PokéDollars each time you beat them (including the Champion).

That’s awesome if you have that kind of money, but anyone who doesn’t want to drop 110,000 PokéDollars for a TM will have to gamble for it.

You’ll find two games at the Game Corner: Card Flip and the Slot Machines.

Bird’s eye view of the Game Corner.

Card Flip

Card Flip is the most fun option, but not necessarily the fastest.

The game consists of trying to guess what a face-down card will be. You choose your bet from a board on the right side of the screen that shows you how much you stand to win.

Note: Each buy-in costs three coins.

You can place bets on a specific card, the Pokémon on the card, or the number on the card. You can also choose two Pokémon or two numbers, with some limitations.

Choosing which card to flip. (Statistically, it doesn’t matter.)

Payouts will be different depending on which one you choose. It goes like this:

Bet on a Pokémon (column): 4x
Bet on two Pokémon (columns): 2x
Bet on a number (row): 6x
Bet on two numbers (rows): 3x
Bet on a single card: 24x

You can use your brain to try and play better to get a feeling of achievement when you finally get the 5500 coins, but that’s not the fastest way to win with Card Flip.

Mathematically, you should always put all your bets on the same card because the 24x payout is simply too profitable when you win.

Moreover, the payout remains 24x even though the number of possible choices diminishes in the second round. That makes you twice as likely to win.

Slot Machines

The Slot Machines provide a much simpler and less involved way to acquire currency. The first four rows of machines from left to right are slots.

Here, you bet one to three coins to get the machine rolling, then hit the A button to stop them from spinning.

You’ll get a payout if three of the same images line up.

Three Pikachus lined up in the top row.

The more coins you put into the machine, the more chances you have of three images lining up.

One coin: Only the middle row counts.
Two coins: All rows count.
Three coins: All rows + diagonals count.

Your total payout depends on which specific images line up, if any. It goes like this:

Cherries: 6 coins
Pikachu: 8 coins
Squirtle: 10 coins
Staryu: 15 coins
Pokéball: 50 coins
Triple 7: 300 coins

It’s always better to bet all three coins to increase your chances of winning, especially considering that an x100 payout is possible.

Unlike Card Flip, you can do a few things to increase your chances with slots:

Getting a 7 on the first column increases your chances of getting a second one.
Holding A when stopping the second and third wheels increases your chances of the machine rolling itself to a 7.

Sometimes a machine will also become “lucky” and give you better chances of winning. If you notice this, keep hitting that machine!

Tip: The machine in the second row and second column is always “lucky,” but you can only play on that one in the mornings (4 am-10 am). Otherwise, it’s occupied by another customer.

Facing the NPC that occupies the lucky machine most of the time.

Exchanging Your TM

Once you have enough coins, go to the right counter and talk to the clerk on the left-hand side to exchange 5500 coins for TM38 Fire Blast.

Facing the clerk that handles TM exchanges.

Exchanging TM38 for our hard-earned coins.

TM38 Fire Blast Details + Uses

Fire Blast Move Details
Type	Fire
Category	Special
Power	120
Effect	10% chance to Burn the target
Accuracy	85%
PP	5 (max. 8)

Fire Blast is the beefiest Fire-type move in the game. It has a staggering 30 more Power than the second-most-powerful Fire-type move: Flamethrower, at just 90.

Like several other Fire-type moves, Fire Blast can also inflict a nasty Burn on your opponent, continuing to chip away at their health every turn.

The one drawback to Fire Blast is the 85% Accuracy, which makes it less reliable than moves like Flamethrower at 100%.

Still, a 15% loss in accuracy is a small price to pay for the hardest-hitting Fire-type move in the game.

This move will devastate any Grass, Bug, Ice, or Steel-type Pokémon.

Fire Blast can be useful against Mahogany Town’s Gym Leader Pryce, who specializes in Ice-type Pokémon. Although some Pokémon in the Elite IV are also prime targets:

Will’s Exeggutor (Grass/Psychic)
Koga’s Forretress (Bug/Steel)
Karen’s Vileplume (Grass/Poison)

If you have any Fire-type Pokémon with decent Special Attack in your party, Fire Blast is a must-have addition to their moveset.

Who To Teach Fire Blast To

Here are some candidates to use TM38 Fire Blast on:

Pokémon	Type	Location
Typhlosion	Fire	Evolve Quilava.
Arcanine	Fire	Evolve Growlithe.
Houndoom	Fire/Dark	Evolve Houndour.
Ninetales	Fire	Evolve Vulpix.
Magmar	Fire	Mt. Silver (Morning, Day)

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Nelson Chitty

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Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.

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